Hello from a slightly stiff and sore Aoife. I am the Fundraiser at Brighter Communities Worldwide and this is my first experience in organizing and partaking in the Brighter Communities Worldwide Mountain Challenge. On Saturday, 17^th of August, 43 participants set out to tackle the Galtee Mountain Range on a group Hike. The Galtee Mountain Range is situated in 3 Counties: Cork, Limerick & Tipperary, about a 10 minute drive from Mitchelstown most famously known for its Cheese. The Meeting point for the Challenge was King’s Yard, a beautiful Farm and yard with Camping amenities tucked under the Galtee’s, hidden away from the Main Road. This was the first challenge we have organized in the Galtee’s and views were spectacular. Our friends in Kenya were also walking on Saturday on the sustainable trekking route in Ndubusat.

It was a fresh and clear morning with the weather looking promising but you can never know on a Mountain, so we were prepared for all types of weather. It is Ireland after all. 28 people were set to take on Galtymore, Irelands largest inland Monroe with a staggering height of 919 Meters only 119 Meters shorter than Irelands highest, Carrauntoohil with Tim McSweeney leading the way. And 15 people were ready for the low level walk through forestry, rivers, fields and paths with Pat Broderick guiding.

Before setting off we had lovely tea/coffee, biscuits and cakes provided by Rose/Marg & Shay. It got everyone chatting and in the spirit of taking on the Challenges. We got on our Brighter Communities Worldwide T-shirts and took some group Photos. I decided to do the lower level walk having done Galtymore before.

Our low level walk took us through Forestry for the first few kilometers and then we meet an old Shepard’s House where we took 5 minutes. We could see the other group like little green ants heading up Galtymore, perhaps all secretly wishing we weren’t them. We headed along tracked paths and then into Fields where we met an old Settlement and then headed up one of the smaller Mountains into the open moorland and then down to the Attychraan River where we took a picturesque and much needed lunch break at a waterfall. Once refreshed, we headed up onto another marked path for a few Kilometres until we meet the ‘Black Road’ (Popular starting path for people going up Galtymore). We then had to cross into Bogland and Fields to get back to our end point of Kings Yard. Our total hike was about 14km and took us around 5-5.5 hours.

The brave people who climbed Galtymore, reached the top and then also decided to complete Galtybeg on the way down, they weren’t long behind us. On arrival back, everyone looked tired but contented to be able to enjoy a hot drink and rest the legs. As soon as everyone was back the heavens decided to open and we all thanked our lucky stars. At the end of the day we were all challenged but not defeated and all for an incredibly worthy cause. I hope to see everyone back again next year J

Huge thanks to all the participants for taking on the challenge and to the team of mountain leaders who looked after everyone.  Asante Sana to all who have made donations and supported the event on social media. Support has been enormous and we are set to smash our Fundraising target of €3,500.

The money raised through this Fundraising Event will support Brighter Communities Worldwide Community Development Programmes in Health, Education, Economic Empowerment and Water.  

If you would like to make a donation to support the event please head over to our Just Giving page https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/mountainchallenge2019   We would really appreciate your support.

We would also welcome donations by TEXT –

Text CLIMB to 50300 to donate €4

Aoife Bulman

Fundraiser